State Republicans are seeking to prevent a recount of ballots in some Allegheny County precincts on Monday, arguing that petitions seeking the recount were filed in the wrong place.
“The Elections Board has no power or authority to conduct any further recount or recanvass,” said a Wednesday filing in Common Pleas Court by Republican attorneys Ronald Hicks and Lawrence Tabas.
The arguments involved are technical, and rely on a close reading of the timeline according to which votes are counted and challenges may be permitted. But in essence, Republicans argue that those seeking the recount were in the wrong place at the right time.
The recount process began on Nov. 28, when more than 300 Allegheny County residents, encouraged by the campaign of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, filed petitions at the county’s election office, seeking a recount of results in more than 50 polling places. Similar efforts took place in other counties, mostly in the Philadelphia area, and the Stein campaign also filed a statewide lawsuit contesting the election.
Pennsylvania’s election code does allow for precinct-level recounts, provided they are sought by three voters petitioning within a given district. But under the code, a recount request can only be brought to the election board before it finishes counting the votes — a process called “computation.” Voters can still seek a recount for up to five days after computation is complete, but they must file their petitions in Common Pleas Court instead.
Allegheny County’s computation was finished Nov. 23. A recount petition filed after that date, the Republicans argue, could only be filed in court, with a monetary bond.
“[O]nce a return board has performed its duty and made its return, ... it cannot reconvene and make another computation,” the filing says. “[I]nstead, the sole remedy of a dissatisfied party is in the courts.”
That argument seems to jibe with guidance the Department of State provided to counties on Nov. 28. “If your county has finished its computation … and the five-day period expires today or later, you may inform the filer that during this five-day period, the petition for recount must be filed with the Court of Common Pleas,” the guidance reads.
An Allegheny County spokeswoman declined comment on the filing.
“Voters in Allegheny County of all political persuasions, and Americans across the country, are calling for us to verify the vote. Today’s filing made clear that some will stop at nothing to deny voters the assurance their vote counted. It’s disappointing to see them try to stand in the way of a voting system all Americans can trust,” said David Cobb, campaign manager for the Jill Stein campaign recount effort.
“I certainly understand Republicans don’t want a recount,” said Ron Bandes, the president of election-transparency group VoteAllegheny, which supports the recount. “They’re the winners, and they don’t want to jeopardize that. But they aren’t recognizing the multiple purposes of this recount.”
Mr. Bandes’ group is wary of electronic voting machines like those used in Allegheny County, which do not retain a paper record of a voter’s choices. Activists and some computer experts fear that such machines are especially vulnerable to hacking, and hoped a recount would help investigate those concerns.
Mr. Bandes said a recount, and forensic examination of voting machines, could lead to better elections even if it didn’t change the outcome of this year’s vote. “If you think about the Bush v. Gore case in 2000, the result didn’t change, but we did get the Help America Vote Act,” he said. That law prompted states like Pennsylvania to purchase the paperless machines, he acknowledged, but it also mandated improvements.
“The system is getting better, and that’s important,” said Mr. Bandes.
Republicans have scoffed at the Stein campaign’s recount effort since it got underway, calling it “totally and completely without any merit” in a statement Monday. But they had little to say about the court filing.
Ron Hicks, who acts as a lawyer for Allegheny County Republicans, did not respond to calls made Tuesday about the possibility of a challenge, or to calls made after it had been filed Wednesday. The Republican Committee of Allegheny County referred questions to the state party, where spokeswoman Megan Sweeney said she wasn’t familiar with the filing but said, “We look forward to when Dr. Stein’s absurd challenges are done once for all.”
Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2533.
First Published: December 1, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
